


Bold & Young

by smoaknarrow



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-07
Updated: 2015-11-08
Packaged: 2018-04-19 12:00:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4745555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smoaknarrow/pseuds/smoaknarrow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>a series of Olicity AU's. Send me prompts <a href="http://emilybetttrickards.tumblr.com/">on tumblr</a>!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Babysitter

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first Olicity fic, so I hope I did them justice!
> 
> Anyways, I found this 'the kids I babysit have a hot neighbour AU' somewhere on tumblr, so I went with that. Send me prompts [on tumblr](http://emilybetttrickards.tumblr.com/)!

Kids aren’t everyone’s strong suit; they can get out of control in an instant, so it takes the right person to calm them back down and put everything back in order. That’s exactly what Felicity Smoak is, local child whisperer. She’d discovered the talent when one of her coworkers had to bring her two-year-old to work one day when her sitter had cancelled last minute. The kid was wild, and couldn’t sit still for more than a few seconds – that is, until Felicity had asked him to join her at her desk, and the kid calmed down instantly, spending the rest of the work day colouring.

Now she was getting a steady second income from babysitting for various people in her department at work. Her favourite kids though were the Danes twins, Keira and Dakota. They were always down to watch movies and get makeovers, have dance parties and run around the yard until they tired themselves out. Their mom Kate was a single mother who was always busy with work, so Felicity found herself here on a weekly basis.

“Lissy, can we go play outside? Pleaaaaaase?” the twins asked in chorus, using their best puppy dog eyes on her.

“You’ve been really good tonight, so I guess I can let that happen.” She replied with a smirk, going to help the excited four-year-olds with their shoes.

She let them out to the front yard and settled herself on the stairs to supervise as they ran to get their bikes and race each other down the driveway. This was by far their favourite game, and Felicity couldn’t fathom how it could be fun with such a small driveway as theirs, but kids always had fun with simple things like this.

Keira’s sudden excited shriek snapped her out of her thoughts, and she saw both girls run across the lawn to their neighbour’s driveway, crowding him as he got out of the car. Chants of “Oliver! Oliver!” were coming from both the girls as the jumped excitedly around the man.

And _holy god_ ,was he one attractive specimen of a man. All muscles everywhere, noticeable even under the suit he was wearing, a perfect jawline with just a hint of stubble, and a beautiful smile, currently directed at the twins. 

“Hey girls! Wow, look at those pretty dresses, I guess I should call you ‘ladies’ now!” he knelt down to their level, receiving hugs from both of them, before asking what they were doing.

“Lissy let us race our bikes outside!” Dakota said with a large smile. At the mention of her name, Felicity approached the group to introduce herself to the neighbour, who looked up as she neared.

“Hey there,” Oliver spoke as he stood back up, directing one of his gleaming smiles at her, “Lissy I assume?” 

“Yeah, well Felicity actually, but it’s a bit of a mouthful for some kids, so they just call me Lissy most of the time. It’s kind of cute, y’know? But I wouldn’t want an adult calling me that. And now I’m babbling, which will stop in three, two, one.” Her face was flushed with embarrassment.

Oliver chuckled before extending his hand to shake hers, and she internally sighed in relief that he had found her babbling somewhat-funny instead of weird.

“Oliver Queen. Nice to meet you, I’ve heard a lot about you actually.”

 “Oh, I hope the girls haven’t been telling you all my secrets and embarrassing stories.” She laughed, albeit rather awkwardly.

“Not to worry, I’ve only heard good stuff. Most of it seems right so far,” he replied, causing a blush to spread across her cheeks.

Just then, a tug at her skirt interrupted them, and they both looked down as Dakota asked if they could go to bed now, because she was tired. Felicity scooped up the girl, told the other to head inside, and, reluctantly, said goodbye to Oliver.

“I hope we’ll see each other again soon; it was nice putting a face to the name.” he smiled as he spoke, and she had to turn away so he wouldn’t see how red her cheeks had become.

“Bye!” she replied and quickly headed inside.

 

…

 

A little over half an hour later, both girls were sound asleep and Felicity was enjoying a glass of wine on the back porch, fairy lights twinkling in the trees and candles burning on the table. She had just finished her first glass when she heard the backdoor to Oliver’s house slide open and back closed. She was so not ready to be alone with him and embarrass herself even more, so she pretended to not have heard it. 

“Hey, Felicity.” He spoke from his yard, so she was forced to acknowledge his presence.

“Hi Oliver.” She replied casually and smiled in his direction.

He was now dressed more casually, having traded in the suit for cargo shorts and a plain white t-shirt, and even in the fading light of dusk she could tell this somehow made him even more attractive to her.

“Mind if I come over?” he asked, and she almost choked on the wine. She had no valid excuse to deny him, but she didn’t want to babble his ear off and make him hate her. After a few milliseconds of pondering (well, freaking out) in her head, she nodded and he slipped through the gate, settling himself on the steps beside her.

“So, uh, what do you do for a living?” she asks nervously, fidgeting slightly and staring at her hands instead of at him.

“I’m the CEO of my family’s company. It’s really boring stuff; I wouldn’t recommend inheriting a company.” Oliver says sheepishly, and Felicity can’t stop the laughter that comes out.

“Yeah, I’d prefer to inherit a vase or something, if I’m being honest,” she says after she calms down.

After that, conversation comes more easily to them and she finds that she hasn’t babbled a single time yet, kudos to her brain. They end up sitting out there for well over two hours, until Kate comes home and startles them both.

“Felicity, I see you’ve met the neighbour.” Kate smiles warmly at the both of them as they quickly stand up and create space between each other (when had they drifted this close together?).

“Yeah, the girls are huge fans of him and we got introduced.” She replies, casting a smile sideways glance to find him smiling at her.

“I better get going, thanks for the company Felicity.” Oliver nods to both of them and heads back home, while Kate gives her co-worker a knowing look.

Felicity just shakes her head as they both head inside so she can get going. She’s not going to tell anyone about the butterflies that inhabited her stomach all night.

 

…

 

The next week, Felicity is back at the Danes house, having a pillow fight with the twins when the doorbell rings.

“I’ll go get it, you girls stay here,” Felicity tells the girls as she heads to the door.  Oliver is standing outside, grinning, with a pizza box in hand when she opens the door.

“Oh, hey Oliver!” she says, a little stunned that he’s here and she’s wearing sweatpants and a loose MIT shirt.

Upon hearing the familiar name, the twins both run to the door to greet their neighbour as well, asking him if he brought them dinner.

“I did actually, I hope that’s okay with your babysitter?” He looks towards her, and so do the girls, all with pleading eyes that she has no power to resist (especially from him).

“Yeah that’s fine, we were just having a pillow fight. Come on in,” she steps aside to let him enter, and they all head to the kitchen.

“I brought these for you, as well,” Oliver says as he pulls a bouquet of daisies from behind his back.

The girls both giggle quietly in the background, and Felicity swears her smile is so big that it’s breaking her jaw. “Thank you,” she sighs as she takes them and finds a vase for them.

“Lissy’s got a boyfriend, Lissy’s got a boyfriend!” the twins chant from the table, and Felicity turns beet red before going to correct them.

“Actually, I-” she starts, but gets cut off by Oliver.

“-was hoping you’d like to go on a date, with me. Tomorrow night?” he says, giving her a hopeful smile.

She doesn’t hesitate in her response, “Yeah, I’d love to.”

Everyone’s sporting an ear to ear grin as they sit down to eat, and Felicity can’t stop thinking about tomorrow night. She’s really hoping she won’t babble.

 

Oliver’s already thinking about their fifth date.


	2. The Lucky One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> it was the quietest whisper, but it was said.  
> (really short drabble)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is the shortest of drabbles I wrote back in April, I think I reblogged one of those 'send me a couple and a number' thing on tumblr, and my friend asked for 'things you said too quietly', so here we go~
> 
> I PROMISE, I'll be adding more soon! (maybe even tomorrow/this week??) I'm struggling to adapt to university life, but it's getting better.

They’d been dating steadily for a couple months now, much to Oliver’s surprise; he’d never had a relationship last this long, especially not with someone he cared about this much. It still amazed him that he got to hold her hand when he felt like it, or that he got to kiss her just because, or that sometimes he was even lucky enough to wake up beside her (which admittedly, was his favourite thing).

She was a ray of sunshine leading him out of a storm, and a constant source of surprise and happiness in his life. What had he done before, when they were just friends? (He would never go back to that.)

Tonight had been their six month anniversary, and they’d celebrated by staying in, cuddling together on the couch while watching The Avengers and eating some takeout. She might’ve been really into the movie, but he spent most of it staring at her (whether it was out of awe, or happiness, or just because he could, he didn’t know) until she fell asleep. She looked calm in this state, and he almost couldn’t believe that he was privileged enough to witness this; that he hadn’t messed up so bad as to have lost her.

He carried her to bed, tucked her in and gently kissed her forehead.

“I love you,” she mumbled so quietly that he almost missed it. For a moment, he thought his ears had mistaken him, but he knew he had heard right.

He laid down beside her, took her in his arms and whispered, “I love you too, Felicity.”


	3. I'll Follow You Into The Dark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Oliver goes out of his way to assure Felicity that he is not going to be a man who left his family like her father did"
> 
> awhile ago, [yespleasehawkeye](http://yespleasehawkeye.tumblr.com/) reblogged a post of Olicity prompts that she really wanted written so I tried my hand at one of them. (It turned out more angsty than I planned)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I told you guys I would maybe upload something today, and I wasn't lying! This is pretty short, pretty angsty and pretty cute.

It’s a strange feeling, knowing that someone is always there for you no matter what happens. Felicity finds it hard to adjust to, now that she and Oliver could be something more than friends. She wants to trust him, she does trust him, but her mother trusted her father and look where that got her. So Felicity is skittish to say the least, and she hates it.

When Oliver proposed, she was so shocked and so happy that the ideas didn’t pop up then, or if they did she took no notice. She’s going to spend the rest of her life with the man she loves, and she’s so excited about it. The ideas appear that night when she’s falling asleep in his arms, the voices in her head are telling her he’ll leave, that he’s just like her father, no man will ever stay with her forever. She wills the voices to leave her alone, and when a sleeping Oliver pulls her closer to him, she hopes the voices are wrong because she loves this. She loves him.

Oliver finally notices that she’s getting to be a bit distant and depressed, but when she tells him it’s “nothing”, he doesn’t believe her.

“I know something’s bothering you Felicity, just tell me what it is. I can help.” He pleads with her, his eyes begging to let him in. He’s trying to prove to her that he’s a good man, that he deserves her even though she’s too good for him. He wants her to know that she’s safe with him.

“You can’t help Oliver, that’s the thing. You’re the problem, we’re the problem!” She almost yells, and regrets the words as soon as they leave her mouth. The look on his face shatters her, and she knows she shouldn’t of said that, knows that the voices in her head are wrong and that Oliver loves her too much to leave like her father did. But the words are already out and she can’t take them back.

He knows then, knows that this is about her father and her abandonment issues. She doesn’t trust him to stay, and it tears him apart. The woman that he loves thinks that he’s going to leave her, when all he wants to do is stay with her forever.

“Felicity…” he tries to speak, but he doesn’t know what to say, or how to say it. That’s when her tears start to fall, but he’s at her side in an instant; whispering promises he knows he’ll keep, promises of a future as long as they’re both living, promises of his eternal love. He drops kisses to her forehead, and rubs soothing circles on her back, her head laying in the crook of his neck as she lets the tears fall. This is his fault, he thinks, he should’ve shown her more often that he intended to stay with her forever. And that’s when he gets down on one knee again, begging her to look at him.

“Felicity,” he starts when she finally looks at him, “I know you, and you know me. Sometimes I think you know me better than anyone else. And I love it. I love you. I promise you, I won’t be like your father, I would never leave you.”

She’s stopped crying now, focusing on him and his words, hints of a smile playing at the corners of her lips.

“The moment I met you, as cheesy as it sounds, I knew. I knew we were meant to grow old together, to have a family together, to be together forever. I would kill for you, I would die for you, I’d walk into a black hole for you, and I would spend another 5 years on the island if it meant coming home to you and our family.”

That’s when Felicity’s tears reappear and Oliver’s hugging her again, but this time she’s hugging him back. And she’s smiling. And Oliver doesn’t think he could get any luckier.

“Trust me when I say this Felicity, you’re the woman of my dreams and I’m going to be with you forever.” He tells her, and the smile that lights up her face almost makes him cry. Because he can see that she believes him.

“Thank you.” She whispers when she hugs him again, those two words thanking him for so many things; saving her, trusting her, listening to her, protecting her, choosing her, loving her, staying with her, and so much more.

They’re going to be fine, and they both know it.


End file.
